To ask why the England team (the men) keep falling at the final hurdle, (well virtually at the final hurdle,) at the football World Cup ... and The Euros too?

Not sure I agree about Messi being a 'class act'. Wasn't he found guilty of tax evasion a few years ago? Also, while he's not holding up the 'Malvinas' banner, he's there cheering along right next to them.

He's obviously a generational genius in football, but I've always found him unlikable. Yes, I'm sure he's devastated.

😂😂

Yep and fans have long memories. They can expect a lot of hostility IF they come back to play for their respective English clubs.

The oddest thing about the grubby little anti-English banner was some of that team are quite happy to be on the payroll of an English football club. Shame they don’t have the balls to unfurl their banner at Anfield or Old Trafford.

With the exception of Messi, who is broadly speaking a class act, they’re a team of total shithouses. I hope Spain spank them into next week.

Best thing that could happen is to reinstate England to face Spain in the final. What a lovely little deterrent that would be for their future antics. In the absence of that extreme measure, all of those idiots involved should be banned from the final. Not that I will be watching but I hope Spain thrash them any which way they can.

Yes you're right they were the better side they're just so unlikeable, tiny men fouling left right and centre. The Falklands tatty bed sheet crap, they're just a load of little shits.

Obviously none of that counts when it comes to winning but you look at Norway, England even the Mexican fans who were good natured in defeat and it's just a shame that the argies don't understand sportsmanship and class.

Well said Peppers.

Yes, and as others have said they pay huge amounts of tax. Haaland's team, Man City is a major employer and source of income for Manchester.

In an abstract sense, yes, it's wildly unjust that someone gets half a million a week 'for kicking a ball around' while nurses and teachers struggle to get by. But that has nothing to do with what Haaland, Mbappe or Kane get paid.

Footballers pay is nowt to do with people using food banks. You might as well say that nobody should have any spare income until food banks are eradicated.

Well said.
Argentina were the better side. Full stop.
The calm and nerve to score two goals in the 85th and 92 minute.
I am in awe of it.

Utter faith in themselves.
Anybody see Messi looking to the sky?
I don't know if he's religious. I'm an an atheist so no axe to grind, but it's as if they feel they've got a God given right to be there.

I echo the comments that England are not great but good.
Always the bridesmaid but never the bride.
Please no flaming for this comment, it's just an old expression to denote how somebody can be good but not great.

I also think it's time the 1966 and '30 years of hurt' - now 64 by time of next World Cup! - gets put to bed.

Given their ages, 69 and 62 respectively, I suspect songwriters of Three Lions only Skinner remembers it but not Baddiel, anyway.
Nobody under 67 is going to have a clear memory of '66 so it gets more absurd with each passing World Cup!!

Absolutely this. It is also sad that a lot if fans can’t accept this, and be objective annd realistic about it. So many make up excuses such as biased ref or the other team was cheating.

It’s gone too far though as clubs are actually getting massively into debt to pay the wages of these players. Football clubs are almost all being subsidised by their owners and many of them risk going out of business at the lower levels beyond the top Premiership clubs.

I don’t see that anyone deserves earning £500k a week. Nobody needs that kind of money. It’s obscene. People say that it’s a short career etc. etc. but one week’s wages is as much as many people earn in twenty years and they still have homes and families. I want them to benefit from their talent of course but we have to remember that ordinary fans are in the end paying these obscene salaries and these are ordinary working people. If not through buying match tickets, through buying shirts with players’ names on or buying expensive subscriptions to television screenings of matches,

Maybe the genie is out of the bottle and we can’t go back but I’m a bit fed up in general with seeing people who could never spend the amount of money they have still trying to get more. And that’s not just footballers it’s people in all walks of life - Elon Musk for instance. Why does someone need to be a trillionaire? It’s just greed for its own sake.

Having a father who played for Man City definitely helped Erling Haaland with making the right connections

Haaland is a Nepo baby. His dad played for Man City.

The same as Wayne rooney's son has just been signed to play professional football

Half a million a week - is a bit disgusting though when people are using food banks in England

yes as I said society is fu...cked up. Footballers are paid a huge amount because people put huge value on football. When it is far from the most important thing in the world

"if you can get it". To get to the top of the football pyramid takes a lot. It is similar to becoming a top drug dealer. Many people are trying to get there.
England - because success was so long away, and football is so central to our culture, then we are desperate to succeed. IMO - England is doing lots of things right, but to become tournamenant winners we have to find a version of the team that is much much better than the competion. This team wasn't. France had clearly the best squad but went out like us!

We're technically not good enough.

We need the FA to subsidise uefa coaching Badges.

That's his base salary.

He earns an estimated £10 million (!) a year on top of that from bonuses and endorsements.

After his high profile performance for Norway at the World Cup, that is likely to increase still further. Nice work if you can get it!

Harry Kane is on €480,769 per week with Bayern Munich (excluding bonuses).
Jordan Pickford is on a measly £150,000 per week.

Yes I prefer it go to the actual sports person. There’s a good movie on this but for the US, Jordan I think changed remuneration. The players with talent and taking a risk should be rewarded over others.